The present invention relates generally to wood products and particularly to the repair of defects in high-grade wood products.
Small dimension high-grade lumber stock having clear vertical grain is used as finish lumber in furniture, doors, cabinets and the like. Such finish lumber is expensive and must be substantially free of defects. Manufactures, in cutting the high-grade lumber stock to final dimensions, often expose defects previously unseen. A common type of defect exposed during processing is a long slender pitch pocket following the wood grain. The presence of such pitch pockets renders an otherwise high-grade wood product unusable as finish lumber. Unless the defect is cured, the wood product cannot be used for finish applications. To properly cure the defect and render the product usable in a finish application, the repair must be of high quality. If the repair is not of high quality, the wood product is usable only for lower grade applications. Because such wood products are expensive, defects exposed during processing represent a significant loss of investment to the manufacturer.
In any wood processing operation, worker safety is a paramount concern. Repair of the above noted defects in small dimension high-grade wood products must be accomplished with minimal risk of injury to workers. In curing defects in such small dimension lumber, it would be necessary that workers handle each article separately as the defects are non-uniform and require individual treatment. Such individual treatment or handling by workers of small dimension lumber introduces the potential for injury. Thus, any method of curing such defects must account for such risk in order to avoid injury to workers.